This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Williams, K. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Williams, K. P.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2003, p. 1059-1070, Vol. 185, No. 3
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.3.1059-1070.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Traffic at the tmRNA Gene

Kelly P. Williams*

Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405

Received 31 January 2002/ Accepted 16 October 2002

A partial screen for genetic elements integrated into completely sequenced bacterial genomes shows more significant bias in specificity for the tmRNA gene (ssrA) than for any type of tRNA gene. Horizontal gene transfer, a major avenue of bacterial evolution, was assessed by focusing on elements using this single attachment locus. Diverse elements use ssrA; among enterobacteria alone, at least four different integrase subfamilies have independently evolved specificity for ssrA, and almost every strain analyzed presents a unique set of integrated elements. Even elements using essentially the same integrase can be very diverse, as is a group with an ssrA-specific integrase of the P4 subfamily. This same integrase appears to promote damage routinely at attachment sites, which may be adaptive. Elements in arrays can recombine; one such event mediated by invertible DNA segments within neighboring elements likely explains the monophasic nature of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. One of a limited set of conserved sequences occurs at the attachment site of each enterobacterial element, apparently serving as a transcriptional terminator for ssrA. Elements were usually found integrated into tRNA-like sequence at the 3' end of ssrA, at subsites corresponding to those used in tRNA genes; an exception was found at the non-tRNA-like 3' end produced by ssrA gene permutation in cyanobacteria, suggesting that, during the evolution of new site specificity by integrases, tropism toward a conserved 3' end of an RNA gene may be as strong as toward a tRNA-like sequence. The proximity of ssrA and smpB, which act in concert, was also surveyed.

* Mailing address: Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 E. Third St., Bloomington, IN 47405. Phone: (812) 856-5697. Fax: (812) 855-6705. E-mail: kellwill{at}indiana.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2003, p. 1059-1070, Vol. 185, No. 3
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.3.1059-1070.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Scanlan, D. J., Ostrowski, M., Mazard, S., Dufresne, A., Garczarek, L., Hess, W. R., Post, A. F., Hagemann, M., Paulsen, I., Partensky, F. (2009). Ecological Genomics of Marine Picocyanobacteria. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 73: 249-299 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Caza, M., Lepine, F., Milot, S., Dozois, C. M. (2008). Specific Roles of the iroBCDEN Genes in Virulence of an Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli O78 Strain and in Production of Salmochelins. Infect. Immun. 76: 3539-3549 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Montero, C. I., Lewis, D. L., Johnson, M. R., Conners, S. B., Nance, E. A., Nichols, J. D., Kelly, R. M. (2006). Colocation of Genes Encoding a tRNA-mRNA Hybrid and a Putative Signaling Peptide on Complementary Strands in the Genome of the Hyperthermophilic Bacterium Thermotoga maritima.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 6802-6807 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Quirke, A. M., Reen, F. J., Claesson, M. J., Boyd, E. F. (2006). Genomic island identification in Vibrio vulnificus reveals significant genome plasticity in this human pathogen. Bioinformatics 22: 905-910 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kutsukake, K., Nakashima, H., Tominaga, A., Abo, T. (2006). Two DNA Invertases Contribute to Flagellar Phase Variation in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Strain LT2. J. Bacteriol. 188: 950-957 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Creuzburg, K., Kohler, B., Hempel, H., Schreier, P., Jacobs, E., Schmidt, H. (2005). Genetic structure and chromosomal integration site of the cryptic prophage CP-1639 encoding Shiga toxin 1. Microbiology 151: 941-950 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Mantri, Y., Williams, K. P. (2004). Islander: a database of integrative islands in prokaryotic genomes, the associated integrases and their DNA site specificities. Nucleic Acids Res 32: D55-58 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pelludat, C., Mirold, S., Hardt, W.-D. (2003). The SopE{Phi} Phage Integrates into the ssrA Gene of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium A36 and Is Closely Related to the Fels-2 Prophage. J. Bacteriol. 185: 5182-5191 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»